Georgia House committee takes up sports betting

ATLANTA – A proposed constitutional amendment the state Senate passed late last month letting Georgia voters decide whether to legalize sports betting got its first hearing in the state House of Representatives Monday.

While Georgia lawmakers have considered bills in recent years calling for legalizing sports betting by statute without changing the state Constitution, a statewide referendum should be the preferred route for the General Assembly, Sen. Bill Cowsert, the legislation’s chief sponsor told members of the House Higher Education Committee.

“When you have this major a policy shift, the public ought to be allowed a buy-in, to vote on it,” said Cowsert, R-Athens.

The constitutional amendment would create a gaming commission overseen by the Georgia Lottery Corp. to regulate sports betting. The state would receive 20% of the adjusted gross revenues sports betting generates.

Of that amount, 80% would be dedicated to Georgia’s HOPE Scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs. Fifteen percent would go into a fund to educate Georgians about the dangers of problem gambling.

While the other 5% would be used to market sporting events to be held in Georgia, committee Chairman Chuck Martin, R-Alpharetta, said Monday that he plans to remove that provision from the measure. He said those organizations interested in state support for sports marketing should be required to compete for those funds through the budget process.

Cowsert said setting aside dedicated funding for prevention and treatment of problem gambling is an approach few states that have legalized sports betting have taken.

“Young males are especially (likely) to become compulsive gamers,” he said.

While some supporters of sports betting have predicted it could generate up to $100 million or more each year in Georgia, Cowsert said it likely won’t produce more than $50 million in annual revenue.

That prompted some committee members to ask why the state would bother with legalizing the industry.

“Constituents want it. The sports teams want it,” Cowsert answered. “You don’t do this for the money.”

However, Cowsert went on to argue that sports betting would help promote fan interest in Atlanta’s pro sports teams, which have been among the legislation’s strongest backers.

“The teams want it badly,” he said. “Viewers of sports are more engaged if they have money on the game.”

The constitutional amendment is accompanied by an “enabling” bill, which the Senate also passed last month. The enabling measure includes details of how sports betting would be regulated in Georgia, including the process for awarding licenses to bookmakers.

Time is running short for both measures. The 2024 General Assembly session will wrap up next week.

Suspension of data centers tax break clears General Assembly

ATLANTA – Legislation temporarily suspending a state sales tax exemption aimed at attracting data centers to set up operations in Georgia has barely made it through the General Assembly.

The state Senate gave the bill final passage Thursday 29-22, the minimum number of votes needed to pass legislation in the 56-member chamber. The measure cleared the Georgia House of Representatives two weeks ago 96-71.

After the legislature enacted the tax break in 2018, companies flocked to Georgia to build data centers. Such big names as Microsoft, Meta, and Google took part in the surge of construction.

But the industry has become a victim of its own success. The new data centers are sucking up so much electricity that Georgia Power executives testified before the state Public Service Commission recently that the industry accounts for 80% of the additional electrical generating capacity the utility is seeking from the PSC.

“These have taken about the equivalent of one of our [Plant] Vogtle units,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, referring to the nuclear expansion Georgia Power is expected to fully bring into service this spring.

During Thursday’s Senate floor debate, Hufstetler also cited a 2022 state audit that found the tax exemption for data centers was only returning 24 cents on the dollar.

“These do not create jobs,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell. “They create big buildings, but they do not create jobs.”

The industry begs to differ. According to a fact sheet issued by the Data Center Coalition, an organization of companies that build data centers, the construction and operation of data centers in Georgia are had a direct economic impact of $1.4 billion in fiscal 2021, including 1,020 construction jobs and 3,480 operations jobs.

“Ninety percent of the investment in Georgia since 2018 wouldn’t have happened but for the incentive,” said Dan Diorio, the coalition’s director of public policy.

Data Centers also are paying economic dividends beyond the industry itself, Diorio said. The centers were responsible for $3.9 billion in indirect economic impact between July 2020 and June 2021 including 18,440 jobs, according to a report from Virginia-based Mangum Economics.

“They create business ecosystems around them,” Diorio said.

The bill would suspend the sales tax break for data centers for two years while a 14-member state commission the legislation creates would examine the impact data centers are having on Georgia’s electric grid.

Opponents say even a two-year hiatus would send the wrong message to companies that might be interested in coming to Georgia.

“When you go out and recruit somebody to come to this state and promise them incentives … this bill seeks to pull out the rug from underneath these folks,” Sen. Derek Mallow, D-Savannah, said Thursday on the Senate floor. “That’s not the way to do business.”

Albers took exception to that argument. He said the suspension of the tax exemption would not apply to companies that submit applications to the state Department of Revenue before the bill takes effect July 1.

“To say the rug would be pulled out of any business is a misrepresentation,” he said.

The bill’s opponents also argued that suspending the tax exemption isn’t necessary. Diorio pointed to Georgia Power’s recent testimony before the PSC that the utility will have enough power to meet its customers’ needs if the commission approves its request for additional generating capacity.

“They feel they have the opportunity to add that and hold ratepayers harmless,” he said.

“We have plenty of power for what’s coming down the pike,” added Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, who once worked in the electric industry and was one of only two Senate Republicans to vote against the bill.

But environmental advocates countered that the stress power-hungry data centers put on the state’s electric grid fails to justify a tax incentive that is not delivering a return to taxpayers.

“The data center tax break has been a disastrous policy, exacerbating environmental degradation without significant economic benefits,” said Andrea Jones, government relations public policy director for Georgia WAND.

“By pausing the tax breaks and conducting a comprehensive study of energy and water usage, we can work toward a greener, more sustainable future for Georgia.”

The bill now goes to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature. The coalition is urging the governor to veto the measure.

“Georgia is currently a national leader in attracting data center investment and deploying the digital infrastructure that powers America’s innovation economy,” said Josh Levi, the coalition’s president. “Abruptly suspending the state’s data center program would send the wrong message to all capital-intensive businesses for which certainty and predictability are essential.”

Labor Commissioner Thompson diagnosed with cancer

Georgia Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson

ATLANTA – Georgia Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson announced Friday he has been diagnosed with an advanced stage of pancreatic cancer that has spread to his liver.

Thompson vowed to remain in office while he fights the disease.

“While we wait on a final prognosis for chemotherapy, I can assure you I will continue to be who I have always been – a fighter,” he wrote in a news release.

“I will continue to fulfill my duties as labor commissioner throughout this time and will work with my highly professional and qualified staff to ensure Georgia citizens are served with uninterrupted excellence.”

Thompson, a Republican from Cartersville, was elected labor commissioner in 2022. Before that, he served five terms as a state senator in a district that included Bartow and Cherokee counties and parts of Cobb County.

At various times, he chaired the Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee, the Science and Technology Committee and the Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee.

Thompson asked that Georgians remember him and his staff in their prayers.

Fulton judge rules Willis may stay in Trump prosecution if Wade leaves

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis

ATLANTA – A Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis may continue prosecuting the election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

However, Willis may remain only if Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to handle the case , steps down, Judge Scott McAfee declared in a 23-page ruling Friday morning. Wade handed in his resignation from the case several hours later.

McAfee found that a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade did not constitute an actual conflict of interest, as lawyers for Trump and seven of his codefendants alleged. But the judge ruled the relationship responsible for an “appearance of impropriety.”

“Whether this case ends in convictions, acquittals, or something in between, the result should be one that instills confidence in the process,” McAfee wrote toward the end of the ruling.

“A reasonable observer unburdened by partisan blinders should believe the law was impartially applied, that those accused of crimes had a fair opportunity to present their defenses, and that any verdict was based on our criminal justice system’s best efforts at ascertaining the truth. Any distractions that detract from these goals … should be proportionally addressed.”

Willis’ romantic relationship with Wade was made public in a motion filed in January by a lawyer for Michael Roman, a Trump campaign official charged with the former president and 18 others with participating in a conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.

The motion sought to disqualify Willis from the case because of the relationship and alleged financial benefits she received from Wade, including several trips they took together.

Willis acknowledged the relationship but argued it did not constitute grounds for her removal. At an evidentiary hearing before McAfee two weeks ago, both Willis and Wade testified she reimbursed him with cash to pay for her share of the trips.

In Friday’s ruling, McAfee found the defendants failed to meet their burden of proof of an actual conflict of interest. But he wrote that the appearance of a conflict was enough to infect “the current structure of the prosecution team.” In doing so, he gave Willis two options.

“The District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office, and refer the prosecution to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council for reassignment,” McAfee wrote.

“Alternatively … Wade can withdraw, allowing the District Attorney, the Defendants, and the public to move forward without his presence or remuneration distracting from and potentially compromising the merits of this case.”

Friday’s ruling came two days after McAfee dismissed six of the 41 counts against Trump and several co-defendants. The judge declared the charges legally defective, including the count accusing Trump of pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 additional votes he needed to carry Georgia over Democrat Joe Biden.

Georgia Senate passes CON reform measure

ATLANTA – The state Senate passed legislation Thursday making significant reforms to Georgia’s Certificate of Need (CON) law governing hospital construction and medical services, over the objections of some Democrats who called for Medicaid expansion.

Senate supporters said the bill, which passed 43-11, represents middle ground between doing nothing to improve access to quality health care – especially in rural Georgia – and repealing the CON law entirely.

“We are trying to help rural health care in areas that are getting insufficient medical treatment,” said Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, chairman of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee. “We call them health-care deserts.”

The Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bill last month, sending it over to the Senate.

The measure would exempt proposals to build hospitals in rural counties from having to obtain a CON from the state Department of Community Health – often a cumbersome, multi-year process – if they plan to have a full-time emergency room, accept psychiatric and substance-abuse patients, participate in Medicaid, provide indigent care, and agree to feature a training component.

The bill also includes provisions aimed at helping specific hospital projects. A provision allowing rural hospitals that have been closed to reopen without a CON would allow the reopening of a closed hospital in Cuthbert, Cowsert said.

Another provision exempting a proposed hospital in southern Fulton County from having to get a CON would pave the way for a facility to replace the Atlanta Medical Center, which closed its doors in 2022. The new hospital would serve as a teaching facility for the Morehouse School of Medicine, Cowsert said.

The legislation also would exempt new obstetrics practices as well as birthing centers from the CON law and would raise the state’s rural hospital tax credit from an annual cap of $75 million to $100 million.

Some Democrats who supported the bill said they did so only as a first step toward expanding Georgia’s Medicaid program through the Affordable Care Act, as 40 other states have done.

“Without Medicaid expansion, we’re depriving a lot of these new facilities of customers and, quite frankly, of income,” said Sen. Harold Jones, D-Augusta.

“CON reform is needed,” added Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, who voted against the bill Thursday. “[But] CON reform alone will not solve our health-care issues in Georgia.”

But Cowsert urged his Senate colleagues not to “let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” He said a state commission the bill would create to examine how Georgia can improve health-care access would include Medicaid expansion on its agenda.

The Senate amended the House version of the bill to guarantee Democrats two seats on the commission.

“It you want to make progress on health care in Georgia, this is the vehicle to do it,” Cowsert said.

The bill now moves back to the House to consider the changes made by the Senate. It could end up in a joint House-Senate conference committee to work out a final version of the legislation during the waning days of this year’s General Assembly session.

Private-school vouchers narrowly clear Georgia House

Georgia House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones

ATLANTA – A controversial private-school vouchers bill squeaked through the Georgia House of Representatives Thursday.

The bill, which would provide vouchers worth up to $6,500 to help students in low-performing public schools transfer to a private school, passed the Republican-controlled House 91-82, the minimum number of votes needed to win passage in the 180-member chamber.

The legislation next must return to the state Senate, which passed it last year, because House Republican leaders have made a number of changes to the measure.

Some of the House changes are aimed at limiting the voucher program’s financial impact on the state’s general fund budget. It prohibits spending more than 1% of Georgia’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) fund on vouchers, a cap that is currently set at $140 million a year.

In a bid to steer the vouchers to low- and middle-income Georgians, only students in families earning no more than 400% of the federal poverty limit – currently $120,000 a year for a family of four -would qualify for the program. The cap would be increased only if the General Assembly puts more money into vouchers.

“What you have before you is a responsible piece of legislation that will enhance the educational options we give children,” House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, R-Milton, told her House colleagues. “I have rarely encountered regular citizens who wanted fewer options.”

House Democrats argued that private-school vouchers aren’t the way to help the 90% of Georgia students attending public schools they said are underfunded despite the state having fully funded the QBE for six of the last seven years.

“Fully funded does not equal sufficiently funded,” said Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta.

“Vouchers are simply the defunding of public education,” added Rep. Miriam Paris, D-Macon. “Our focus should be to strengthen public schools.”

Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, said vouchers would not help students in rural Georgia because there aren’t many private schools in rural counties. That was the reason a group of rural House Republicans cited in defeating the bill on the House floor last year.

But Jones said 79% of Georgia students live within 10 miles of a private school.

Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, pushed back on the notion that offering private-school vouchers would cripple public schools financially. He said Georgia’s public schools have $6 billion in reserves.

“To suggest there’s not enough cash to make targeted investments is intellectually dishonest,” he said.

The House version of the bill also includes a number of provisions unrelated to vouchers. It would codify all teacher pay raises lawmakers have approved since 2019, Gov. Brian Kemp’s first year in office, which have increased teacher salaries by $6,500 per year.

In a move to increase enrollment in pre-kindergarten classes, the legislation also would let public schools use state capital construction funds to build new pre-k facilities.

The bill would take effect during the 2025-26 school year and expire at the end of June 2035.